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Metro Council members say it wasn't their place to support striking 'crimes against nature' laws

baton rouge metro council.jpg

The Baton Rouge Metro Council voted 7-3 against a resolution that would have supported the repeal of unconstitutional provisions of the state's "crimes against nature law," which were used to arrest gay men in local parks.
(Diana Samuels, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

The Baton Rouge Metro Council members who voted Wednesday night against a resolution supporting the elimination of unconstitutional “crimes against nature laws” said Thursday that they don’t think the Metro Council should be weighing on state legislative issues.

“We are not the correct legislative body to address that bill,” said council member Joel Boe, one of seven members who voted down the resolution.

The resolution, offered by council members John Delgado and Ryan Heck, would have expressed support for a bill to take unconstitutional provisions out of the state’s “crimes against nature” law. The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s office used the unenforceable law, which was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court a decade ago, to make arrests in local parks. The sheriff’s office was accused of using the law to target gay men, and Sheriff Sid Gautreaux ultimately apologized for the arrests.

State Rep. Pat Smith, D-Baton Rouge, filed the bill that would remove the unconstitutional elements of the law, which prohibit consenting adults from engaging in anal or oral sex.

Despite the fact that the recent cases took place in East Baton Rouge Parish, council members said it shouldn’t be their jurisdiction to vote on the matter.

“We’re not the law enforcement agency, and we’re not the legislative agency that created nor can repeal that law,” Boe said. “Despite my personal opinions one way or another, we’re not the right people to be discussing it because we can’t do anything to change it.”

Council member Buddy Amoroso echoed those sentiments, saying that despite the cases taking place in East Baton Rouge Parish, “it’s still a state issue.”

“It is an issue that the state legislature deals with, it’s not a parochial issue,” he said. “It’s not within our plan of government to deal with the issue, so therefore I’m deferring it to the state legislature.”

Delgado called that rationale "ridiculous,” and said the council frequently votes on resolutions supporting state bills. For example, the council voted on resolutions regarding legislation for the LA Swift bus line, which failed, and tax rebates for Bayou Country Superfest, which passed, he said.

So what was the real reason for the vote? Delgado said, “I think that a lot of my colleagues were scared of offending the religious right that views this as an endorsement of homosexuality.”

In truth, he said, the resolution only “had to do with taking a law that was found to be unconstitutional 10 years ago off the books.”

Mayor Pro Tem Chandler Loupe, however, places the blame for the failed vote squarely on Delgado. Loupe said that, although he thinks the unconstitutional law should be removed from the books, he voted against the resolution because Delgado “turned it into an issue about race, religion, pretty much everything we are not entitled to vote on.”

Delgado, in his speech urging his colleagues to vote for the resolution, compared the crimes against nature law to issues like how interracial marriage was illegal for many years -- a law that's shocking by today's standards.

Loupe said he talked to Delgado about his prepared remarks before the meeting, and told him “he didn’t need to turn this into a political campaign for John Delgado for mayor, which is what he did.”

Loupe said there are hundreds of unconstitutional laws on the books that shouldn’t be there, and it should be a “routine housekeeping” matter to get rid of them, not the emotional debate that Wednesday’s meeting became.

“Last night I was not voting to take the law off the books,” Loupe said. “Last night, a yes vote or a no vote involved issues of racial discrimination, sodomy… The meeting just denigrated into this awful discussion that was not helpful to anyone, so why would I vote for that?”

Delgado denied that the resolution was put forth because of his political ambitions.

“I challenge (Loupe) to find one member of the LGBT community that would say that,” Delgado said. “He, who has in his office a plaque from the Forum for Equality thanking him (for work on LGBT issues)… He should be ashamed of his vote last night, and he should return the plaque.”

Smith, the state representative sponsoring the bill, said she wasn’t surprised by the council’s vote, since the law only affects city-parish officials if someone sues them over it.

She said she thinks the legislation has a 50-50 chance of passing.

Delgado and council member C. Denise Marcelle, who was the third vote in favor of the resolution, have both floated the idea of a broader “non-discrimination” ordinance. The ordinance would protect the LGBT community and all other groups from discrimination in the parish, along the lines of the failed "One Baton Rouge" efforts of recent years. Wednesday’s vote, however, indicated that passing a broader ordinance could be a tough road.

Delgado, though, said Wednesday's discussion, which included a member of the public comparing gay sex to human trafficking, is a “perfect example” showing that discrimination is still happening in Baton Rouge.

Delgado said he still wants to put an ordinance forward eventually, though he will need help from the community.

“What needs to happen is the people of Baton Rouge need to call their council members and say, ‘You’re not voting the way that we feel. You’re not representing us. We are not bigoted and we are not prejudiced,’” Delgado said. “I think that when the people of Baton Rouge stand up and speak out, that it will pass.”